The city will host a ceremony to co-name its Station Plaza in honor of longtime residents and civil rights leaders M. Paul and Orial Redd this Saturday.
Beginning at 11 a.m., the ceremony at the Rye Metro-North station will feature the unveiling of a new street sign, remarks from elected officials, a poetry performance, and the dedication of a new “Walk Rye History” panel, according to a press release announcing the ceremony.
The decision to co-name the street after the Redds was approved unanimously by the Rye City Council in May, following months of advocacy by the Redds’ son, M. Paul Redd Jr., and community members Marion Anderson and Ingraham Taylor. The roadway, which runs between Purchase Street and Peck Avenue alongside the train station, is owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
Interim City Manager Brian Shea said earlier this year that once the MTA signed off on the naming agreement, the city would design a sign and plan a “big event worthy of the occasion.”
Orial Redd, who grew up in Rye and graduated from Rye High School in 1942, married M. Paul Redd in 1954. Together, they founded the Port Chester-Rye branch of the NAACP and co-owned the Westchester County Press, the county’s first Black newspaper. M. Paul Redd was also a founding member of the Black Democrats of Westchester, a longtime member of the Westchester Democratic Party, and served on the Rye Democratic Committee for 46 years.
Contributed photo
The couple faced discrimination in Rye, including being denied housing at Rye Colony in the early 1960s. Their case helped lead to the passage of state anti-discrimination legislation in 1962, later known as the Redd Bill.
Orial Redd died in 2024 at the age of 100. M. Paul Redd’s death proceeded hers in 2009. Both were remembered by city officials and community leaders as instrumental in building networks of legal experts, activists, and politicians in Westchester County during the civil rights era.
“This is a historic moment for Rye,” Anderson, a Democratic candidate for City Council, and Taylor said in a joint statement ahead of the event. “By co-naming Station Plaza in honor of M. Paul and Orial Redd, this will ensure their legacy of courage, justice, and community leadership continues to inspire future generations.”
